I remember Mallika Dua expressing her views on the ‘Padman challenge’ that while the concept of movie ‘Padman‘ is really applaudable, the ‘Padman challenge’ with all the ‘Padfies’ is more of a publicity stunt. Clearly, we need to put more effort than a movie’s publicity in order to continue the conversation around periods and Aditi Gupta, founder of Menstrupedia, shares the same view as well.

During an interaction with YourStory, Aditi expressed that it is rather amazing that a Bollywood movie is talking about menstrual health and hygiene, but there is a lot of work from a lot of people that needs to be done in this direction to bring about long-lasting changes and impact.

While applauding the initiative of the film, she said, “Ever since we have known about periods and the female body, we have been made to understand that ‘we don’t have to talk about it’, so the film is in the right direction.” Though she was quick to add, “But there’s so much of work that needs to be done. It’s the responsibility of all the stakeholders to work actively towards busting the myths associated with menstruation, it has to be a collective effort.”

When IWB had a chat with Aditi last year she shared how the taboo around menstruation seeps in at the school level and she faced the same when her Biology teacher skipped the entire lesson on menstruation in order to avoid the discussion. She said, “In my school, the chapter was completely skipped by our biology teacher. For something to be missing in these discussions, there should be a discussion in the first place.”

She conceived the idea of Menstrupedia because she was miffed with the lack of conversation around periods. She shared with us, “There was no conversation at all. Yes, I was given a rule book as to what I should do and not do during my period days. But the what, when, how, why was never discussed with me.” “Growing itself is a very complex issue. On top of that, if one sets rules on how to act and behave during periods, it just hampers the self-confidence and self-image of the girl”, she added.